Bangladesh Press Council has asked the editors and publishers of the Kaler Kantha and Bangladesh Protidin to appear before its judicial committee on March 29 in connection with two cases filed against them.
Matiur Rahman, editor and publisher of Bangla daily Prothom Alo, filed the cases with the council on Tuesday against six people, including the editors and publishers of the two Bangla dailies, for persistently running false, fabricated and defamatory news against him and the Prothom Alo even after being condemned and cautioned earlier by the Press Council.
Yesterday the council served notices on the accused editors and publishers asking them to submit their reply to the charges by 11:00am on March 29.
They have also been asked not to run any such reports until the cases are disposed of.
In the second week of January, Bangladesh Protidin and Kaler Kantha published reports against Prothom Alo and its editor on issues like blasphemy, minus-two formula, grenade attack and involvement in militancy.
According to the case statement, the plaintiff alleged that the accused were using the newspapers as a tool for their misdeeds, corruption and blackmail and that the Kaler Kantha, Bangladesh Protidin, Daily Sun and Banglanews24.com -- all owned by East West Media Group of Bashundhara Group -- were collectively involved in propagating against the complainant, his family, the newspaper and the people engaged in it, and the newspaper industry.
Earlier, Bangladesh Press Council in its verdict condemned and cautioned the Kaler Kantha and Bangladesh Protidin for publishing false and defamatory reports against Prothom Alo and its publisher violating the ethics of journalism.
The council also directed them to refrain from publishing such news, but the newspapers did not stop.
Matiur Rahman sought exemplary punishment to the accused for committing such crimes over and over again ignoring the press council's verdict.